The USS Nimitz will hold a memorial service today for a long-time sailor who was killed Monday while trying to help fellow motorists on state Route 16.

The service for Lt. Cmdr. Regina Mills, 44, begins at 1 p.m. aboard the ship, which is stationed at Naval Base Kitsap.

Mills, an Everett resident, was driving westbound on SR 16 early Monday when she came upon several crashes on the ice-slickened roadway near Burnham Drive. She pulled over and got out of her car.

A pickup truck lost control and hit another vehicle. The vehicle crashed into Mills as well

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UPDATED at 6:25 a.m.

Tacoma police and firefighters are investigating an overnight house fire as a possible arson.

Officers and firefighters responded to the house in the 1000 block of South 86th Street just before 1:50 a.m., Tacoma police reported.

The four adults and child inside the home had detected smoke and got out of the burning home before firefighters arrived, Tacoma fire battalion chief Mike Mitchell said. None were injured.

Tacoma firefighters doused the fire but not before the flames caused “significant damage” to the home, Mitchell said. (The department did not go to a second alarm on the

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Police are seeking help identifying the man who held an employee at knifepoint and robbed a Tacoma laundromat just after closing time Monday night.

The robber held up the Tops Laundry, in the 5400 block of South Sheridan Avenue, about 9:35 p.m.

The man knocked on the door and asked an employee for change. When the employee unlocked the door, the robber showed a knife and demanded cash. He fled with an undisclosed amount of cash and the worker’s purse.

Police said the robber appeared to be a white man in his 20s about 5 feet 9 with a

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A reader called The News Tribune around noon and inquired about police activity in the area of South 23rd Street and Union Avenue. He saw several police cars and officers with their guns drawn.

What was going on, he asked.

Tacoma police spokesman Mark Fulghum reports that officers responded to a call of a man carrying a rifle. The officers searched the area but did not find the man.

The King County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help to find an 84-year-old man with Alzheimer’s who disappeared Wednesday on Vashon Island.

Jack Randles was last seen about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday walking in red pajamas near downtown Vashon, deputies reported.

He is white, 6 feet tall and weighs about 150 pounds. He has white hair and a mustache.

The Sheriff’s Office’s search and rescue team is looking in the area.

Anyone who sees Randles is asked to call 911 or the Sheriff’s Office at 206-296-3311.

UPDATED at 5:48 a.m. Thursday

Here’s a list of the school-related changes and announcements for Thursday.

* Orting School District: Limited bus service for 177th St.

* North Thurston School District: All schools will start at their regular times. Transportation is back to its regular operations.

* Lake Tapps Christian Pre& K: Schools are closed because of a power outage.

Two South King County men have been charged in connection with a drug trafficking ring that brought cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin from California into Western Washington, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced today.

Juan Siquiero-Gonzalez, 33, of Federal Way and Joe Rodriguez-Lujan, 36, of Kent are among 20 defendants charged with various crimes including conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to engage in money laundering.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Seattle Police Department served 18 search warrants today and netted 24 pounds of meth, cocaine, crack cocaine and $35,000 in cash.

Throughout the lengthy investigation, officials said they seized

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Tacoma Public Utilities reports that it has restored power to most of its customers who’d been in the dark since last week’s snow and ice storms.

Less than 150 customers remain without electricity because of damage to equipment on their own homes, not on the system.

The utility asks those homeowners to check the mast, strike plate and meter socket for damage.

“If they’re visibly damaged, your outage may not be related to the overall Tacoma Power outage, and you should call a contractor to examine the equipment,” the utility reported.